Human Evolution

Proposition: important evidence concerning the evolution of Homo sapiens (a species defined by brain size) lies unrecognized in the published findings from studies of the unconscious mind in action. A palaeoanthropologist requires a detailed knowledge of the skeletons of living hominids, but is deemed qualified to theorize about the evolution of the sapiens brain with barely a smattering of knowledge about the human psyche. The result is often nonsense, not recognized as such because its judges are equally ignorant.

There is much information already available, obtained through the observational science of depth psychotherapy. This could be used not only to inform the theorizing but also to monitor the process which, since it takes place within the psyche about which it is speculating, is especially prone to interference from the hominin psyche, better known as the unconscious. This has its own agenda, quite distinct from that of the sapiens psyche or intellect.

Example: Jonathan Kingdon in his book Lowly Origin puts forward the theory that bipedalism arose from a squatting ground ape. With many illustrations he shows how the skeletons of apes squatting to gather food from the ground, shuffling forward and twisting round, would over time modify in ways that would promote the bipedal option. Not one illustration shows a female with a neonate! Infants in fact are not mentioned anywhere in the text. Of course it may be just as easy to gather food squatting in this way with an infant clinging to the chest and often needing the support of one hand, and it may be only my own disability which leads me to feel that it would not. But the matter should have been addressed. I suggest it was because of an underlying unconscious denial of ever having been a helpless baby (common to the schizoid mind) that Kingdon and all the enthusiastic colleagues who reviewed his book failed to notice this flaw. From this book, as from others, a Martian reader could gain the impression that human evolution was a strictly masculine activity and that early Homo reproduced by some form of division or budding, and so started life in adult form.

Way in. The paper, The First Year of Life… should be read first
THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE AS THE FOUNDATION OF EVOLVED HUMAN NATURE
A psychologically based story of why Homo became sapient.
The hypothesis, arising from clinical research, that the early Homo infant most likely to survive during the Plio-pleistocene was one that regulated its demands upon its bipedally disadvantaged mother according to her capacity to respond, rather than its own needs, leads to a psychologically informed account of human origins, supported by available published evidence. Consideration of the domestication of fire as an evolutionary process made possible by, and in turn promoting the development of, the anti-libidinal capability (Freud’s death instinct) explains why a determining factor in human nature, enhancing inclusive fitness, is the ability to act contra-instinctually. The implications for theory and research are discussed.

. I think chapters 8 and 9 in Part III of my book Created in the Image can then be read and understood for their evolutionary content, and if this arouses sufficient interest Parts I and II can then be tackled to assess the data on which it is based. Further theorizing and some of the material I could not fit into the book or paper will be found through the Updates and Critiques link.

Created in the Image was written in the seven years it took for me to deteriorate from being fully mobile to being virtually housebound. Struggling to incorporate suggestions from encouragingly rejecting publishers and to finish it before I achieved the status of "intelligent vegetable" that seemed to be rushing upon me, has meant that chapters 9 and 10 exhibit all the faults of a rushed job. Without access to, or the strength to make use of, academic libraries, I relied on the New Scientist to keep me up to date on current developments concerning human evolution and related topics, and the references in Part III are a mess. I left them to be dealt with if the book was accepted by a publisher and doubt if I'll be able to complete them now. Sorry.

Once housebound the downward spiral appears to slow, the changes being less dramatic, and I attempted to condense my work into a paper (The First Year of Life….) to try for publication in an appropriate journal. The result was inevitably to restart my hominin psyche on its obsessive quest for answers and so to the "evolution under fire" hypothesis.

I expect any palaeoanthropologist who may visit this site to take exception to my conviction that denial and projection have such a major influence in the work of others. For those who would like to prove that the pot is calling the kettle black there is plenty of information about my history and psyche in the Introduction and in Chapter I. Perhaps instead of projecting a macho self image onto early man, I've projected my weakness and disability onto early woman; perhaps I have unconscious fantasies of the super baby I once was and superimpose these onto her neonate. Try moving outside the current paradigm, reading the argumentation carefully, putting aside your own prejudices, and achieving an objective conclusion.

Personal experience, and observation, has shown me that the dissemination of ideas by purloining, appropriation, plagiarism, or just plain theft, is a safer bet than reliance on some firm risking its money promoting a book by a nobody. So here you will find up for grabs a wealth of ideas, and projects for future research, on all aspects of human evolution. Help yourself! You may take your pick with a clear conscience.

I have included the essays that were the foundation of the book, and my qualifying case study, for the sake of completeness, and because this is a site for psychotherapists and dream enthusiasts as well as for students of human evolution.